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Monday, January 23, 2012

You Can Grow SOME Berries in the Mojave Desert

Womack blackberry grown at the orchard

Q. Have you had any luck with berries? I have a friend that says she does blackberries successfully.

A. Some blackberries will do just fine here and others do not. Two blackberries which I have found to work well here are Rosborough and Womack, both of which you probably have to purchase online. They come from the Texas A and M breeding program. One that did not do well from that breeding program is Brazos.

Dorman Red raspberry grown at the orchard

Generally speaking, I would not recommend most of the blackberries with native American names such as Apache, Navaho, Arapaho, etc. which came, I believe, out of the Arkansas breeding programs. Historically they have not done well here according to locals who have tried them so I did not bother trying them.

Strawberries at the orchard

Raspberries have not done well over time generally speaking. I did try a Florida variety which had a lower chilling requirement and it failed here. I have heard some reports from locals where they had some success with raspberries but they either did not remember the name or had them in for only one or two years. Others have generally reported failures with raspberries.

Strawberries will do well with everbearing types probably doing better than the main crop varieties. You will have some iron chlorosis problems, yellowing, that will need to be addressed. I have liked them when they were growing under about 30 to 40% shade here.

With all of these you MUST prepare the soil adequately prior to planting.

I wouldn't probably put blackberries in containers. They can be kind of messy and they spread underground on runners. Depending in the container size you could use small citrus like kumquat, dwarf peach or nectarine, try low chill blueberries if you can give them shade in the late afternoon (but you better be a good gardener for that one) herbs like basil, and strawberries are nice.

Another fruit that grows naturally in southwestern deserts is the Wolfberry. The Goji berry of China is a wolfberry, the world's most nutrious fruits. Very easy to grow in hot poor soils. They form bushes to about 6', slow growing, deciduous in drought. 10 varieties in AZ and more thruout the southwest and Americas.

Welcome to Xtremehorticulture

Home. My home base is Las Vegas, Nevada, in the Eastern Mojave Desert. This blog focuses on horticulture in Deserts.

Me. Desert Horticulture is very different from horticulture in wet climates. Very few people talk about it. This blog focuses on it. My experience in horticulture span over 50 years; time as an applied academic and now working as a consultant. This blog shares my experience and advice in Desert Horticulture. Work in Northern, East and Southern Africa, Western and Central Asia and the Middle East have expanded my views on Desert Horticulture.

Questions. I reply to questions sent to me as quickly as possible. Please include pictures. It helps. Unless questions are confidential, I post them on this blog if they add new information.